Many vehicles are now being provided with a global position system or GPS navigation. The performance a vehicle GPS system is dependent on many factors but the antenna that receives GPS signals is particularly important. Unfortunately, electronic devices continue to trend downwardly in size. The need to configure a GPS navigation system for use in a vehicle, coupled with the need to reduce the size of electronic devices generally, means that providing a good antenna for a GPS receiver can be problematic.
Many GPS systems use patch antennas. A patch antenna is essentially a square or rectangular patch of conductive material applied to a dielectric block. A ground plane for the patch is essential. A ground plane is provided by a second conductive patch applied to an opposite side of the same dielectric block. This ground plane is typically coupled to a larger ground plane in the GPS system to increase performance of the antenna.
In order to improve GPS system performance without limiting circuit board placement, some GPS navigation system manufacturers have moved the antenna for the GPS receiver to a second circuit board that is located away from the GPS receiver. While moving the antenna to a second circuit board allows for increasing the size of a patch antenna as well as increasing the size of the required ground plane, moving the antenna away from the receiver electronics causes additional signal loss. It also adds component expense and assembly complexity.